Astro City - Gold, Garbage, or non-existent? Let's Find out!

[TodoRojo]

Hey again, everyone!

Well I heard back from the painter and she said she’s only taking work where she has “creative freedom” and recommended one other place or to take it out of state… I’m definitely not hauling these parts out of state haha, the search continues. Fortunately I do have a buddy that might have a connection so we will see what he says .

Just a couple things today:

1. Got the rest of the AMP-UP connectors replaced on the harness. This thing is looking almost new at this point.


On the other Astro, I converted the harness from using the same connectors as the AC2 to using the black ones. It works!


It was a lot of depinning but other than that it was straightforward.

I should be hearing back from the plating guy this week and I’ll be reaching out to a couple other custom paint shops just in case.

 

[hoagtech]

Hey again, everyone!

Well I heard back from the painter and she said she’s only taking work where she has “creative freedom” and recommended one other place or to take it out of state… I’m definitely not hauling these parts out of state haha, the search continues. Fortunately I do have a buddy that might have a connection so we will see what he says .

Just a couple things today:

1. Got the rest of the AMP-UP connectors replaced on the harness. This thing is looking almost new at this point.


On the other Astro, I converted the harness from using the same connectors as the AC2 to using the black ones. It works!


It was a lot of depinning but other than that it was straightforward.

I should be hearing back from the plating guy this week and I’ll be reaching out to a couple other custom paint shops just in case.

Have you looked into marine gel coating businesses?

There are a few in Bellingham Bay I planned on calling for my Astro, NAC, Blast and joymax topper.

I’d imagine there has to be some near the Salty Lake.

 

[TodoRojo]

Have you looked into marine gel coating businesses?

There are a few in Bellingham Bay I planned on calling for my Astro, NAC, Blast and joymax topper.

I’d imagine there has to be some near the Salty Lake.

That’s a great idea. We actually just had someone come re-coat my parents boat last summer. I guess my only concern is if it’ll be too thick… but maybe it’ll be ok. I’ll check!

 

[TodoRojo]

Parts have come back from the Zinc Plater! I got an email last night saying the parts were ready for pickup so I left first thing this morning to go pick them up. As we were looking over the parts the manager noticed that some of the screws didn't come out very good; so he offered to have them re-done. I was very appreciative that he took the initiative to do that instead of me having to ask. He definitely has my future business. Aside from that, everything went without a hitch! Here are some before/afters of the work. It's so nice to know that these have a fresh coat on zinc. Since I did both yellow chromate and clear chromate, the cost was about $290 after tax. Not too terrible. Had I done a single color I'd be closer to $175, but I wanted to keep them their original colors:

Before:


After:



I also took apart the coin mech today to give it a clean. A little dirty but nothing too crazy.

Before:


After:

 

[hoagtech]

Parts have come back from the Zinc Plater! I got an email last night saying the parts were ready for pickup so I left first thing this morning to go pick them up. As we were looking over the parts the manager noticed that some of the screws didn't come out very good; so he offered to have them re-done. I was very appreciative that he took the initiative to do that instead of me having to ask. He definitely has my future business. Aside from that, everything went without a hitch! Here are some before/afters of the work. It's so nice to know that these have a fresh coat on zinc. Since I did both yellow chromate and clear chromate, the cost was about $290 after tax. Not too terrible. Had I done a single color I'd be closer to $175, but I wanted to keep them their original colors:

Before:


After:


I also took apart the coin mech today to give it a clean. A little dirty but nothing too crazy.

Before:


After:

It looks good. But $290!?

Is that how much costs these days?

Damn.

 

[TodoRojo]

It looks good. But $290!?

Is that how much costs these days?

Damn.

Yeah, seems places around here are $100 minimum and I used two colors so that’s two batches. Kind of annoying, but I got everything I need done between two cabs so at least it’s “one and done”

 

[kikaso]

Wow the plating came out really good

 

[TodoRojo]

Today I reached out to one more powder coating place. I think the best course of action right now is to go in and see how good of a match we can get on a powder coat. When it comes time for paint or gel, I can have them match the doors.

One thing that has been bothering me is on the back of the cab there are a couple places to put your hands when you wheel it around. In those areas the paint was chipping really badly and it was hard to sand in there. I basically gave up and decided to let the painters handle it — until today!

After a little searching I found that harbor freight had a cheap little soda blasting kit for $35. Pair that with some baking soda they have for $50. $90 to save me some labor was well worth the experiment.

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-t...ning/portable-abrasive-blaster-kit-37025.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-t...edium-grade-armex-soda-blast-media-65929.html

To my surprise, it worked quite well. My compressor is barely 1HP so I had to do a lot of waiting for more air, but it definitely beats sanding. If I ever do this again I’ll probably invest in a larger compressor and do the whole cabinet. It was so damn easy.

I’m really happy I did this so I don’t need to be worried about poor adhesion to chipping paint.

 

[Kidkaos]

Very cool find!

 

[TodoRojo]

I put together a little video tonight on how to disassemble a few things in case it helps people in the future:

View: https://youtu.be/MTrUsybHri8


I went over AMP-UP connectors, coin reject button, cash box coin counter removal and re-installation, and grounding the cab (US). It's a pretty brief overview but hopefully it gives people a visual aid.

 

[FluxChiller]

Looking really good!

 

[kikaso]

I put together a little video tonight on how to disassemble a few things in case it helps people in the future:

View: https://youtu.be/MTrUsybHri8


I went over AMP-UP connectors, coin reject button, cash box coin counter removal and re-installation, and grounding the cab (US). It's a pretty brief overview but hopefully it gives people a visual aid.

This video was very helpful. I have lots of connectors that I would like to salvage so going to dig those up now.

 

[TodoRojo]

This video was very helpful. I have lots of connectors that I would like to salvage so going to dig those up now.

Happy to hear that! Let me know if I can clarify anything for you.

 

[TodoRojo]

Dropped these parts off today at the powder-coating place. They will sandblast them all and put a fresh coat on there. We found a pretty good match so I'm happy about that. Cost is about $300 for the whole thing. Looking forward to seeing how these turn out. They're about 2 weeks out; but I'm hoping they're able to do it a bit quicker.



Once I got back, I soda blasted a bit more. There were a few corners on the front piece that I wanted to make sure I got the paint out of. I decided to take a little video so y'all could see what it's like. Obviously a better compressor would make this job a bit quicker; but it suits my needs for now .

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsF4YLi-4RM

 

[kikaso]

Dropped these parts off today at the powder-coating place. They will sandblast them all and put a fresh coat on there. We found a pretty good match so I'm happy about that. Cost is about $300 for the whole thing. Looking forward to seeing how these turn out. They're about 2 weeks out; but I'm hoping they're able to do it a bit quicker.



Once I got back, I soda blasted a bit more. There were a few corners on the front piece that I wanted to make sure I got the paint out of. I decided to take a little video so y'all could see what it's like. Obviously a better compressor would make this job a bit quicker; but it suits my needs for now .

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsF4YLi-4RM

Very satisfying to watch.

 

[TodoRojo]

Very satisfying to watch.

Isn’t it? Lol. I am supposed to get some parts back from powder coating tomorrow 🤞🏻. When I have it all painted I think I’m going to do a long-format assembly video detailing the entire thing. Maybe someone will find it helpful someday.

 

[kikaso]

When I have it all painted I think I’m going to do a long-format assembly video detailing the entire thing. Maybe someone will find it helpful someday.

I just started a restoration and would find such a video very helpful.

 

[TodoRojo]

Parts came back from powder coating today! I had two doors done (I ordered and extra at one point) and then all the metal pieces. They turned out great! Only issue was that they coated both sides of the power panel. Not a huge deal, but I’ll need to make sure I sand down a spot for the grounding wires.

Really happy with how these turned out. The powder coating guy also gave me some information on a painter. I’m getting so close I can taste it! Hopefully this project can be wrapped up by the end of the month or end of may.

 

[TodoRojo]

Alright, more pics:

I’m kind of kicking myself for not having the powder coat place do both sides. I figured it would be easier for them to not do both sides; but they actually took my instructions as hard instructions and not “hey, if there’s overspray on the back I don’t care, do whatever is easiest.” That said, they did a great job! Lol

Only downside to the bare metal is it could corrode over time. Today I sprayed with some corrosion inhibitor, let it dry, and followed up with clear coat.





I got the AC Panel all put back together as well:



I also went to the local crafts shop and got some thick paper and double-sided tape. I think this paper will be a good replacement for the stock paper, but I have the original in case I decide I hate it.



Lastly, I got the coin mech door all out together. Woo!



I took videos of every step, so I’ll be posting those to my YouTube later on. It’s really basic stuff, but it’s fun to have a history of all of it.

 

[kikaso]

powder coat place did a great job. Excited to see this one finished